Anyone run there own MTB guiding/coaching business?

[Woody]

With looming redundancy I'm thinking of changing career/direction - and enough of construction & engineering.

Anyone run there own guiding/coaching business?

I'm a qualified guide/coach but haven't used them in anger as I did it more for personal/betterment reasons a while back.

Also thinking of doing a Cytech Level 2 and doing some maintenance too.

[dogbucket]

For some reason I thought of this (not wishing to put a massive downer on your idea)

https://dirtmountainbike.com/news/paralysed-solici...

More as a warning of getting everything setup correctly.

Edited by dogbucket on Wednesday 1st July 20:33

[Woody]

Yeah, had seen that before.
It's always a risk taking someone out - until you see them ride you can't tell what they're like.
I don't know that area but sounds like line choice wasn't explained and a few other key skills.

Edited by Woody on Wednesday 1st July 21:15

[dai1983]

I did a level 2 MIAS course through work and occasionally take the lads out at work as we get time during work. I have the back up of the MoD if anything goes pear shaped and we have use of free bikes, kit and transport etc. I make sure I am extra careful but I've had one lad stress fracture his wrist recently. I'm not sure how easy it would be to make money from it once you've factored in kit, insurance and transport etc but it must be doable else no one would do it. I don't live close enough to decent hills to consider it myself TBH.

One thing I would say is that I'm no MTB legend myself but you may find beginners level of fitness frustrating after a while. There's always someone in the group whos fitness is lacking even in here the MoD so you just bimble about all day. I'm getting known as being the "cycling guy" at work as I do road, MTB and CX so I'm always getting harrassed to go out. Its got to the point where I have to sneak out so certain people don't see me in lycra and try and join in.

[Woody]

dai1983 said:

I did a level 2 MIAS course through work and occasionally take the lads out at work as we get time during work. I have the back up of the MoD if anything goes pear shaped and we have use of free bikes, kit and transport etc. I make sure I am extra careful but I've had one lad stress fracture his wrist recently. I'm not sure how easy it would be to make money from it once you've factored in kit, insurance and transport etc but it must be doable else no one would do it. I don't live close enough to decent hills to consider it myself TBH.

One thing I would say is that I'm no MTB legend myself but you may find beginners level of fitness frustrating after a while. There's always someone in the group whos fitness is lacking even in here the MoD so you just bimble about all day. I'm getting known as being the "cycling guy" at work as I do road, MTB and CX so I'm always getting harrassed to go out. Its got to the point where I have to sneak out so certain people don't see me in lycra and try and join in.

Thanks for the info & advice - greatly appreciated.
I'm MIAS L2 as well - will see what happens, nothing ventured nothing gained.
Insurance wise I'm registered with ABCC and get £5m cover for coaching/guiding.

[dai1983]

Woody said:

Thanks for the info & advice - greatly appreciated.
I'm MIAS L2 as well - will see what happens, nothing ventured nothing gained.
Insurance wise I'm registered with ABCC and get £5m cover for coaching/guiding.

How much a year is your insurance if you don't mind me asking?

Would you do it expecting people to bring their own bikes along or would you supply them? Imagine it'd be worth it if you have a group of 4-6 booked up often and you're right near the trails

[dai1983]

Just had a quick google and cheapest local leader charges £80 a day for a group of 1-2 and £100 3-6.

[Woody]

dai1983 said:

How much a year is your insurance if you don't mind me asking?

Would you do it expecting people to bring their own bikes along or would you supply them? Imagine it'd be worth it if you have a group of 4-6 booked up often and you're right near the trails

As a sole trader it comes in at £52/year. Covers for coaching and leading.
https://www.abcc.co.uk/join/

It would be clients bringing their own bikes and equipment.
As MBL L2 you're limited to a max of 10 in the group.
Plenty of unmarked and marked (but less used) trails around me to get some decent routes sorted.

Edited by Woody on Saturday 4th July 01:49

[dai1983]

Woody said:

As a sole trader it comes in at £52/year. Covers for coaching and leading.
https://www.abcc.co.uk/join/

It would be clients bringing their own bikes and equipment.
As MBL L2 you're limited to a max of 10 in the group.
Plenty of unmarked and marked (but less used) trails around me to get some decent routes sorted.

Edited by Woody on Saturday 4th July 01:49

Have to check my MIAS info but work limit us to 6 people plus one leader. Due to Covid its been ruduced to me plus 4. Had 3 afternoons this week where I took three different groups out down QECP.

They've asked me to continue it every Wednesday but I'm moving on to a different location in 3 weeks. Hopefully Yeovil due to family reasons and Puddletown, Quantocks, Halston forest are about an hour away from there.

Who knows I may get to know those areas and pimp myself out and at least get my travel costs paid for! Not a bad price per year for insurance!

[Woody]

Ah yes, not sure why MOD limit you to lower numbers - a bit odd.
Good luck with the move - hopefully won't take you long to find decent routes.

[EddyBee]

Hi Woody, I’ve just sent you an email via your profile.

If you want some guineapigs to try your coaching out on then me & a few mates are kind of local to Staffordshire & are all ears for tips.

[anonymous-user]

Just my Tuppence worth but if that’s the ABCC correspondence course, I’d do the BC courses too as they include face to face instruction and also put you through Disclosures and Barring so you can work with under 18s or vulnerable adults. The BC coaching packs and material are pretty good too. I’d also look at a diploma or something in Sports Psychology or physiology. Just read you did the MIAS course so BC may not be as appropriate, I know they get a lot of stick but as far as coaching and stuff goes, BC are really good.

Get to know an area like the back of your hand as that will help, look for lesser known areas where you can coach on repeated sections without anyone else coming past. People used to coach in Ashton Court in Bristol and it was very frustrating to have a good run spoilt by someone coaching on the single track.

Spot the trends, gravel is big right now so get up to speed on that and adventure riding, overnight camping etc, is popular. Can you Coach/advise on those disciplines? Could you do it abroad in one of the Alps resorts? They are pretty popular in the summer and you could take a punt, tent some accommodation and sell of places?

Lastly, if I’m paying you, I expect you to be fitter than me and better than me, your bike not to suffer a mechanical and ideally to have some race experience.

Good luck.

Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 8th August 08:36

[EddyBee]

Just wanted to post up & say that I contacted Woody a month or so ago about coaching myself and a few mates.
We needed coaching & Woody needed to some guinea pigs.

We met Woody at Cannock yesterday for a ~3hr lesson and it was great.

Managed to help us refine the basics point out some mistakes we’d been making.
Definitely improved my riding & was great fun. Even if my mates initial “attack position” looked like he’d got Polio

We’ll be putting what we learned into practice over the next few rides and booking another session to see if we can improve on anything.

All the best for the future Woody & I’m certain we’ll see you again for another session!

[Woody]

EddyBee said:

Just wanted to post up & say that I contacted Woody a month or so ago about coaching myself and a few mates.
We needed coaching & Woody needed to some guinea pigs.

We met Woody at Cannock yesterday for a ~3hr lesson and it was great.

Managed to help us refine the basics point out some mistakes we’d been making.
Definitely improved my riding & was great fun. Even if my mates initial “attack position” looked like he’d got Polio

We’ll be putting what we learned into practice over the next few rides and booking another session to see if we can improve on anything.

All the best for the future Woody & I’m certain we’ll see you again for another session!

Thanks for the kind words and mini review Ed - greatly appreciated.
Glad you guys enjoyed it and got something out of it.
As I said let me know when you want another session and we'll sort something out

[Dammit]

pablo said:

Could you do it abroad in one of the Alps resorts? They are pretty popular in the summer and you could take a punt, tent some accommodation and sell of places?

You'd need a visa for this in 2021, and to go through whatever the French process is for establishment of a business, or get a French business to sponsor you for a visa and hire you on a short term contract. Whatever the French version of the Hostile Environment is. Probably more trouble than it's worth as a trial, and likely expensive.

A couple of weeks ago, and booked a days training with Ben Deakin in the week before I left - which cost £250.

Ben said that I could have take three mates along, but it was on a weekday at short notice, so I didn't really try to find anyone to share the costs.

I knew of Ben via YouTube - he's got a popular channel that gets a lot of views, and therefore spreads the word about his business.

I think that last part is key - getting known about to the extent that you have a constant stream of bookings, and also having other sources of income to reduce the risk of dry periods (when for e.g. it's raining almost all the time).

[dhutch]

Friend of mine considered it as a sideline but didn't actually get as far as charging, just tutoring friends etc. Will ask tomorrow if he has any advice.